как дела
kak dela
The English phrase "wassup" can be expressed in Russian as как дела (kak dela).
как дела is an informal greeting used to ask someone how they are doing. You might also use Что нового to ask "what's new?" or the more personal, informal как ты? to ask "how are you?"
Is there a formal and an informal way to say it?
For an even more personal and informal touch, you can use как ты?
Is it said differently in some regions?
In the southern parts of Russia, people may use Шо ты instead of как дела.
How does it change in a sentence?
The phrase как дела can be expanded to как идут дела to more literally mean "how are matters going".
How do you pronounce it?
kak dela
When do people say it?
When someone asks you как дела, a common brief response is хорошо (good). Another very common, neutral response is нормально, which implies that things are fine or acceptable.
Did you know?
- In some regions, the greeting как дела is answered with потихоньку, which means 'slowly' or 'little by little'. This implies that life is moving along without any major disasters.
- Depending on the tone, как дела? can be used sarcastically to confront someone who has done something wrong. In this context, it functions less as a greeting and more as a prompt for an explanation.
- The word дела is the plural of дело, which can mean 'affair' or 'legal case'. Consequently, asking как дела is linguistically similar to asking how one's various legal or business cases are progressing.
Examples in context
- Привет, как дела?Privet, kak dela?Hi, how are things?
- Как дела в школе?Kak dela v shkole?How are things going at school?
- У тебя как дела?U tebya kak dela?How are you doing?
Example conversation
Two friends meet on the street.
- Анастасия AnastasiaПривет, Сергей! Как дела?Privet, Sergey! Kak dela?Hi, Sergey! Wassup?
- Сергей SergeyПривет, Анастасия. Всё отлично!Privet, Anastasiya. Vsyo otlichno!Hi, Anastasia. Everything is great!
- Анастасия AnastasiaРада за тебя.Rada za tebya.I'm happy for you.
- Сергей SergeyСпасибо!Spasibo!Thanks!
